The blog of a rock musician who happens to have a vag.

Month: November 2016

Huntly are a 3-piece electronic-pop-r&b BAND making ‘doof you can cry to’

“Hey… what’s this? Good For a girl… ” Elly came out of seemingly no where in the empty hall I was positioned in setting up for the interviews that were ahead of me at BIGSOUND that day. We had a back and forth about how Good for a Girl was my blog and I was interviewing women in music to talk about their experiences in the industry; and how she was part of LISTEN who are doing a similar thing in Melbourne with all non-male artists. We came to a quick conclusion that we should definitely hang out and chat and so thus this awesome interview was born!

But a little about Elly and her band Huntly before we get to that! Huntly comprise of Elly, Charlie and Andrew and are self-described ‘doof music you can cry to.’ I’ve actually been listening and enjoying their music for months on Spotify playlists without even realising, and that description is 1000% accurate. Very emotional heart-driven personal and private lyrics, over lush and chill dance beats with wonderful tints of R&B in the vocal melodies.

They’re based in Melbourne and are involved in the solid movement there that is bringing more attention to non-male artists on the scene. Elly is particularly passionate and involved with her work for LISTEN organisation. I really enjoyed hearing her thoughts and opinions while she was speaking on a panel at BIGSOUND about gender representation and discrimination in the Australian industry.

The other month when I was driving to Wellington with Villainy we drove through Huntly and it took all of my will power to not take heaps of photos and spam Elly on the internet. They should perform a show in their namesake town.. I didn’t ask her where the name came from but it’s hard to imagine it would be inspired from anywhere else, right?! This was just a side note i felt deeply compelled to pointlessly add in to this blog post… ANYWAY.

Watch my video interview with Elly from Huntly!

New music from Huntly is flowing – they just released a fresh jam on the 21st November called Please; with more new tracks to follow in quick suit!

To keep up with Huntly, chuck ’em a follow on Spotify or check out their links below!

Elly (Huntly):Looking back, still a great album. What a beak up album! Um, but outside of that, I mean a lot of male influence. which, you know I only started picking up on in recent years when I became an adult and realising that a lot of my kind of “serious” music love was… yeah a lot of men. And when I started getting in to electronic music, particularly so. Yeah, people like James Blake, Radiohead’s electronic stuff, Flying Lotus. Yeah.

Emma:That’s been coming up a lot with a lot of chicks I’ve been talking to – just talking about their influences. And I go, well were there any women? Cuz they’ll start naming all these guys and bands with guys..

Elly (Huntly):Yeah! yeah.

Emma:And they’re like ‘yeah…that’s all we really have’ – there isn’t much visibility for women.

Elly (Huntly):
Yep. Yep. Yeah absolutely – you really have to seek it out. Which I do now, which is great. I kind of made a promise to myself at the start of this year that I would not go out of my way to download any men’s music

Emma:(laughs)

Elly (Huntly):
But it’s interesting just how it creeps in. Like I keep looking through my my Apple Music playlist and I’m like.. “Fuck how did that happen it’s all men again!?” (laughs)

Emma:Yeah!

Elly (Huntly):
But yeah, I do make a big effort now and I have like a lot of good women and gender non-conforming artists in my playlists. And I’m DJ-ing on Friday night and doing all those kind of artists. Bangers.

Emma:That’s awesome. Like I kinda find that too, like I’ll go ‘oh i’m gunna drive and listen to music’ and I’ll chuck on one of my favourite bands and it’ll be a guys band. But since I’ve started this blog, being more aware of women in music where – I was saying to Moses last night – it’s almost gotten to the point where if I go watch a guys band play now, I’m actually kind of judging them from the perspective that we would usually be judged on?

Elly (Huntly):
It’s very uncomfortable, I think, once you – I guess that’s the process of a journey of feminism – is kind of uncovering all of this stuff that is normalised and naturalised. And the fact that you would see an all-male band your whole life, if you weren’t really tuned in to that stuff, and never really question it. Whereas now when I see all-male bands. I’m very impatient (laughs)

Emma:Yep (laughs)

Elly (Huntly):
Um, and I am kind of just like ‘yup, cool you’re doing the same thing that has been done forever and you haven’t made an attempt to destabilise.’ And I have a problem with that.

Emma:Yeah, totally. Cuz you’ve got 2 guys with you in Huntly, right? Do they embrace feminism in music as well?

Elly (Huntly):
Yeah absolutely, they’re really good allies. And I guess like they’re, gender identity, isn’t quite as simple… it doesn’t really feel like… well we’re not two straight cis guys with one queer woman. So yeah, it’s kind of a bit more complex than that in our project. But certainly they have lived with male privilege their whole lives and they’re pretty good with recognising that and being called out. It’s definitely a process of.. you know when I say ‘you know when you use that phrase? It makes it sound like you automatically know more than me..’ and I’ll just kind of make those kinds of calls, and generally if one of them doesn’t get it the other one will..

Emma:And they can just work it out amongst themselves (laughs)

Elly (Huntly):
Yeah. Yep.

Emma:So what actually inspired you to get in to music? How young were you when you started wanting to be a performer and a writer?

Elly (Huntly):
I was pretty young! I was always singing and playing. Actually, I played the flute in high school and was doing all the classical music stuff. But I loved singing Jazz, and I went on to study a Jazz vocal degree. And it was then that I started playing piano because I didn’t want to be like… the kind of woman singer…

Emma:Token singer…

Elly (Huntly):
Yeah, especially in the Jazz environment where the women are predominantly singers. Which, that’s absolutely not to undermine their strength and power doing that because I think that’s incredible, but I wanted to be able to accompany myself and so I started playing keys, and that’s when I started songwriting. And then I guess as I got more in to exploring, the gender stuff became more of a problem and I felt myself pulling out of the jazz world because it’s just such a, like, boys club.

Emma:Yeah, so when you say ‘problem’, were there kind of like specific experiences that were just ridiculous, or?

Elly (Huntly):Yeah. Yeah just starting to tune in and realise like, the only women here are singers and they’re treated like decoration. And you know, part of me wants to change that and interrupt those kinds of narratives. But, the other part of me was like ‘fuck it, I’ll just get out.’ (laughs)

Emma:(laughs) Yeah, and have you found a similar vibe doing the music you do with Huntly now? Or have you found that to be just a more welcoming environment in general?

Elly (Huntly):
I mean in Melbourne there’s a lot of – there’s a great scene, particularly around.. yeah really supportive feminist scene. Because of LISTEN. Um, and, so yeah there’s definitely been more efforts made. And that’s really important. But as I was saying before, as you go up to the top, like you know when people are like ‘Oh you sound like James Blake’ or.. I mean Little Dragon is probably another influence and there’s a woman in that band. But that’s kind of.. yeah, one of our only people we’ll get likened to. Like big, bigger acts that actually have a woman in them. But then again, other acts in Melbourne that are not all-male acts, that we’ll get… that we really look up to. And they’re bands like the Harpoons, and Friendships and Habits who are both here [Bigsound]. There is incredible music for us even to look up to just in Melbourne.

Emma:Yeah I’ve been to Melbourne a couple times and I’m always really impressed with the scene there. Like the diversity of the scene, and how friendly everyone is when you go to a gig. I don’t know if there has been any experiences you’ve had living there where you go to a gig and there is, you know, total sexism or fucked up dudes doing shitty things? But I haven’t really ever experienced that in that city.

Elly (Huntly):
Yeah. There’s definitely a movement against that. I’m part of a club night called Cool Room and it’s like techno music, but there is a priority for DJs like non-male DJs so we’ve got a lot of women and a lot of queer people and trans and gender non-conforming DJs who from internationally and locally who get booked. And then the space is deliberately set up to be a safe space, so I’m one of the safety coordinators along with others. And it’s basically set up so people can approach us if they’re ever made to feel uncomfortable; which in venues and at gigs has gone on forever and it’s kind of been left unquestioned and yeah, there’s a real movement to change that in Melbourne.

Emma:Yeah, awesome! I’d also like to talk about your role with LISTEN. So what do you do with LISTEN?

Elly (Huntly):
Well, LISTEN is fantastic because it’s quite open, if you want to get involved and use your skills you can. So I started going along to meetings a bit over a year ago and have since then been involved in booking. I’ve booked a few LISTEN parties with a focus on women and GNC acts. And, the biggest project this far is probably our conference which is happening in October. Chloe and I are coordinating that with a bunch of people and so we’ve got key notes speakers and lots of panels along with live showcases at night.

Emma:Yeah yeah!

Elly (Huntly):
Kind of like BIGSOUND but with a focus on feminist thought. So yeah there’s panels from like.. I’m moderating a panel speaking with school-age feminist in music, and safer spaces, and yeah.

Emma:That sounds fucking awesome! And lastly, what’s next for you and your music with Huntly? Are you guys putting out a record soon?

Elly (Huntly):
Yeah! So we released our debut EP this year, it’s called ‘Feel Better or Stop Trying’

Emma:(laughs) that’s a cool name!

Elly (Huntly):
Yeah! So we are actually going to follow it up pretty quickly with another couple of tracks. We finished recording and will be putting them out before the end of the year!

Emma:Sweet!

Elly (Huntly):
Yeah! And got a couple of festivals we’re playing over the summer, and yeah I think we’ve got a big summer ahead and I guess looking towards an album for next year, as exhausting as that sounds!

WET LIPS ARE NOT A GIRL BAND.

“Wet Lips are a one-stop shop for getting off chops.
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. You’ll spill your beer. Try on Try It Again.
A searing Melbourne anthem about seeing an old root out at every fuckin’ venue and thinking “y’know what, I’m DTF”.Unhinged, unstoppable, as fun and sloppy as a 3am d-floor pash with some hot stranger.
Pucker up.”

I’m not usually as lazy as to just copy and paste a band’s bio – but this has got to be one of the best ones I’ve read in a while.

Wet Lips are a 3-piece punk band from Melbourne, inspired by the lack of non-male representation in the local rock scene. There is Grace on vocals and guitar, Jenny on bass and vocals, and soon-to-depart-on-other-adventures Mo on drums.

I had only briefly heard of them before heading to BIGSOUND after I had been searching for women on the festival line up to hang out with. I didn’t know much about them or their music, so while meeting and chatting with Grace and Jenny (Mo is gender neutral) I got to know how low-key hilarious these girls were, I was very intrigued to check out the fulle band at their showcase later that night.

I had an absolute blast at their show! Grace saunters about looking over the crowd like she owns the fucking place (good), Jenny looks like she’s having the time of her life and has the best dance moves, and Mo provides the backbone with some beats that were hella fun to watch! But the best part of all is their on-stage banter, which is a string of hilarious exchanges between Grace and Jenny about a range of topics from how much they hate lanyards (they were around many necks at BIGSOUND) to Jenny’s parents. They also took the time to acknowledge that they were playing in a venue that is built on top of aboriginal stolen land and expressed their gratitude for the honour of playing there.

The entire crowd was enthralled by their set. It was v v fun to watch.

SO WATCH MY CHAT WITH GRACE AND JENNY FROM WET LIPS.

Wet Lips have just dropped a sweet new split 7″ single with Jenny’s other band, Cable Ties, and it’s a lil ripper. Listen to it below and check out Wet Lips on the interwebz.

WET LIPS LINKS

INTERVIEW: GRACE & JENNY FROM WET LIPS [TRANSCRIPTION]!

Emma:
So I guess we will approach this individually – your influences and inspiration growing up. What music was surrounding you when you were kids or…

Grace:
A lot of when I was a kid, a lot of Australian stuff that my parents listened to. A lot of Aus-Rock like Crowded House and Paul Kelly. Then as a teenager I moved in to the whole Indie Rock, Brit Rock thing. Loved a lot of british bands and triple j bands. Then I discovered riot girl, so Bikini Kill, Sleater Kinney, and there was kind of… so Jenny and I met when we moved to college in Melbourne. And we started going and seeing local bands and that really just opened up, well, our brains, really! Yeah so bands that we loved were like Terrible Truths, then heaps of garage bands, um. Yeah… trying to think of other women bands that we went and saw…

Jenny:
Yeah so when we first started, cuz we’ve been playing for 4 years, so when we first started going out to see bands, we didn’t see many women. So we went and saw Terrible Truths a lot and we really liked them and they were really inspiring. And yeah, … but recently in Melbourne there has been a massive surge with women and gender non-binary and trans people..

Jenny:
Yeah so there’s this really amazing vibrant community and that’s where we get all of our energy and inspiration from now!

Emma:
Yeah! And so when you say that you guys met in college is that high school or university?

Grace:
Oh, like university, yeah

Emma:
Right!

Jenny:
We’re both from the country.

Emma:
Right

Jenny:
So I’m from Bendigo and Grace is from like.. south Queensland. So we started uni…

Emma:
And that was the connection like ‘we’re both from way out of town”

Both:
Yeah

Jenny:
So we moved in res accommodation and…

Grace:
And then moved in to a share house with our friend Maya from Habits. And yeah we all just little 19 year olds going and drinking $2 pots and seeing the same bands every night of the week!

Emma:
(laughs) Wicked! So what got you guys individually in to music? Like did you pick up instruments from quite a young age, or?

Jenny:
Well I actually played folk music before… so yeah my influences are a bit different because until I was playing in like a celtic folk band

Emma:
Wow!

Jenny:
Yeah and I was really in to folk music

Grace:
They were really really good

Jenny:
And um, yeah I just met Grace and liked Grace and..

Emma:
She brought you over to the dark side….

Jenny:
I went to gigs in to town and I was like “why does everyone sing out of tune and why don’t they tune their guitars?”

Emma:
(laughs)

Jenny:
But yeah and now I love it.

Emma:
“Now I love out of tune guitars!!” (laughs)

Jenny:
Yeah!

Emma:
How about you, Grace? What got you in to music, like actually wanting to perform?

Grace:
Ohhh just my um… my forever unsatisfied ego, really. Nah not actually… well, actually yes. Well yeah it was just this kind of thing where I’d always been really interested in rock music. And we started going to see all these bands and think I’ve always had this sense of like ‘oh they’re doing all these really cool things and they’re getting lost of attention and that looks really fun” Yeah and we really felt like there was a big gap in the Melbourne scene maybe 4 years ago, there weren’t many women. And it was just this real sense of ‘fuck that. let’s do it.’

Emma:
Yeah, so that was kind of the motive? Like you guys set out to start a girl rock band together?

Grace:
Yeah..

Jenny:
Kind of!

Grace:
Kind of.. I’m sorry I just realized everything I said revealed what a massive narcissist I am…

Emma:
(laughs)

Grace:
Umm I try and keep that under the surface most of the time.

Emma:
This is a safe space to be a narcissist

Grace:
Yeah.. I think it was more just like we want to start a band and we wanna do what all these other guys are doing

Jenny:
We looked at them and we were like ‘we can do that’ and so…

Emma:
And better..

Grace:
Yeah, well, we are better. And um..

Emma:
There it is again (laughs)

Grace:
Yeah so we started and we were so… well I certainly was really desperate for approval from all the people in that kind of scene. and you know we’d play shows.. and we’ve gotten so much shit over the years. We’re always on first. People would make disparaging remarks. And even like I think like 2 years ago I was playing through someone else’s amplifier and I was like ‘have you switched it on?’ and he said ‘yeah!’ and I leaned down and he was like ‘yeah and this is the volume knob, and this is the gain knob…’ and I was like yep yep I have this amp at home like this is the same amp and he’s like ‘and this is the tremolo…and this is…’

Emma:
“Did you even hear what I just said? Like… you know I’m about to play in a band.. like i do actually do the thing…’

Both:
Yeah

Emma:
Yeah I get that a bit too…

Jenny:
When we did get recognition, a lot of the time it was kinda like this quirky and cute thing that they were…

Emma:
A bit condescending

Jenny:
Yeah

Grace:
Yeah always the novelty. And so I think we’ve moved away, especially in the past 2 years, of seeking approval from that group. And going okay actually we don’t need you. And I guess we’ve been lucky we’ve been part of a big community and a lot of our friends have started bands in the last few years and we’ve reached out and yeah there are organizations like LISTEN and other kind of networks. And venues like tote that put on really great stuff… and.. yeah

Jenny:
And I’ll say at this point also like.. when we started… like, Mo, our drummer is non-binary so.. yeah we’re not a girl band

Emma:
Not a girl band, yeah sorry!!

Jenny:
No no you’re okay it’s fine!

Grace:
And there is such a vibrant trans and gender non-conforming community in Melbourne. As Chloe Turner from LISTEN said yesterday, they really are making the most innovative music at the moment.

Emma:
Yep!

Grace:
And there are artists like Simona Castricum who’s at BIGSOUND, Habits… and it’s really cool seeing it-

Grace:
Just seeing it absolutely explode. And they’re starting to get some of the recognition they deserve

Emma:
Yeah well it’s brilliant that they’re showcasing here as well! It’s great. We kind do a similar little festival like this in New Zealand. It happens.. it was just at the weekend. They fly some of the panelist from here over there. And we showcased at that. And I was looking at the line up, only 12 artists play the whole time, it’s not like here. I realized that 50% of them had women in them, which was really cool cuz I feel like we’re at this critical period at the moment where we are starting to be listened to. And people are starting to kind of.. the conversation is not as scary to people any more. There’s been a lot of development and Melbourne is like a hub for that. It’s culturally very accepting and open, and it’s great that you guys are based there…

Grace:
Yeah it’s great! We love it! We feel like it has, in the past year just in terms of something tangible.. like often at the bigger underground venues like the tote and that kind of thing.. they don’t like putting on line ups that are all men. So they will often book a band that has at least one woman or a GnC person in there. But it’s at this stage where they’ll book that band but they’ll put them on first still

Emma:
Right so it’s like a step..

Grace:
Yeah it’s a step, and um… I’m really interested in.. cuz there was this kind of thing that happened in the 90s to a certain extent. And I’m really interested in how you keep that moving in to the future, and you don’t regress back to the indie rock scene of 10 years ago. Not that I was part of it, but it was very male dominated and people weren’t having these sort of conversations.

Emma:
Yeah

Grace:
Yeah so, I think we have made a bit of progress. But the music industry is still full of misogyny. And the vast majority of people still don’t respect women’s music. And they still see it fundamentally as something abnormal, and sort of just a novelty.

Emma:
Yeah definitely. And we have made steps with women but, like, as you say kind of the next thing is the GnC community and yeah… I hope that what everyone is learning from women starting to come to the forefront is that actually progress isn’t terrifying and actually like everyone has a voice and everyone deserves to be heard.

Grace:
Yep

Emma:
And yeah I think that’s slowly but surely happening. I don’t think it will regress back. I hope not anyway. Unless like Donald Trump comes in to power and everything turns to shit. Influences a whole bunch of other horrible white dudes (laughs)

Both:
(laugh) yeah!

Emma:
So what’s next for you guys? Have you got releases coming out? Records? Tours?

Both:
Yeah!

Jenny:
We’re doing a split 7” which is coming out in November. And so, the split on the other side is with my other band, Cable Ties

Emma:
Oh cool!

Jenny:
So that’ll be really good! And we’ve recorded and album and we will be releasing it but that will be next year and… we don’t know when

Grace:
Yeah! Hey if anyone runs a label… get in touch! Ah yeah, so we’ve got the album. We’ve mixed half of it and doing the other half in 2 weeks or something! And, yeah, we’ll just be trying to put that out. Maybe put out another single before it.

TALI IS ONE OF THE MOST PROLIFIC ARTISTS TO COME OUT OF THE DRUM AND BASS SCENE

And she’s my mate – ner ner!! Tali, MC Tali, or Natalia Sheppard, is a babe of all babes. She is one of the most positive humans I’ve ever met, and her work ethic for music is relentless and inspiring. This girl will not quit, her passion for her craft is 5eva. Tali first rose to fame after she moved over to the UK and signed with label Full Cycle, releasing her Top 40 UK Chart hit, Lyric on My Lip in 2004. Check it out, if you’re not familiar with Tali at all, you probably will recognise this track!

I met Tali a few years ago now through some mutual musical Christchurch friends when she was down here visiting and probably performing a couple of sets. Being a young sprogget on the rock scene, I didn’t know who she was by face or name, but when she got up on the mic during a jam session and started singing and rapping – my mind was absolutely blown and in awe of her talent and more importantly; her complete confidence and ownership of the space when she performs. I became a Tali fan right then and there!

So when I was taking Good for a Girl interviews to Going Global this year, and Tali was going to be talking on a panel, I knew I had to get her in for a chat. I am very aware that the Drum & Bass scene is just as – if not more – male dominated than the rock scene. And knowing Tali to have a strong mind and heart, and a clear passion for women in music with a lot of her music mentoring and teaching work focussing on inspiring and empowering young women and girls in to a career in music, I knew this chat was going to be good. REAL GOOD.

WATCH MC TALI AND MYSELF TALK ABOUT HER EXPERIENCE AS A WOMAN IN THE DnB SCENE HERE

Since I’ve already mentioned how Tali is one of the most prolific and hard working artists in this scene, you bet your ass she’s just released even MORE new music for us to wrap our ears around.

Listen to her fresh new E.P. dropped just last week, called Keta, HERE.

Check out on of my fav lush tracks from the EP, How To Get High, below.

CONNECT WITH TALI ONLINE

…………………

INTERVIEW: MC TALI (@GOING GLOBAL) – TRANSCRIPT

Emma:So we’re just going to talk being ladies and vaginas and stuff! Sooo… do you…

Tali:
You don’t wanna talk about my penis then? (laughing)

Emma:No, not really interested in that (laughing). So first I would just like to know about your influences. Even just as a child – like the music that was surrounding you growing up.

Tali:
So interesting because I look at a lot of genres of music now in sort of relation to the same genres of music I listened to as a child and what women are doing now as opposed to what they were doing then. I definitely listened to a lot more hip hop back then. And I say ‘back then’ because it’s 90s/80s.. mainly 90s. I’m quite young, actually (laughing). But um, yeah, so it was mainly… I listened to a lot of hip hop. That’s what I really really loved. Because there was a lot of strong powerful female rappers back then. And a lot of them who were sexy and confident but without being overtly…. naked? You know? Who kept their clothes on a lot but were still sexual and confident. so I listened to a lot of like, Salt N Pepa, En Vogue, Nenah Cherry, um, even Missy Elliot in the early 2000s. She was a massive influence on me.

Emma:I love her.

Tali:
Yeah and she had the style steez, and she didn’t give a fuck what anyone thought about her, her size, or you know, she was just herself. And to me that was really inspirational, especially because I didn’t have.. you know, being a drum and bass artist, I didn’t have a lot of female influences so I looked at the hip hop girls. And I look at the hip hop girls now and there isn’t a lot of hip hop girls I relate to now at all.

Emma:Right. So because I know that you’re really in to women in music, and you up that culture, when you were younger, were you consciously in to women role models for your music? Or was it just you were drawn to them? Or..

Tali:
Umm I think it was like… cuz I grew up in a house with a sister and two brothers. But we grew up on a farm. And so even though there was this side of me that was really girly and liked, like, dolls, there was also the side of me that loved building forts and playing in the river and hanging out with my dog. And neither side was never encouraged more than the other. It was very much about being free and especially living on a farm, you have the potential to do that. And so I kinda grew up with that attitude of sort of, never trying to be older than what I was or cooler than what I was. Just trying to be me. Obviously that changed when I got a lot older and you have society’s perceptions of how you should be as a woman and stuff so it did start to creep in, but, back then I would say I gravitated towards these women because 1) I loved rapping, I loved Mc-ing, I loved music and I loved fashion. And they encompassed all those things but they did it in a way that was relatable. It was cool, it was sassy, it was confident and it was them doing them. I didn’t feel like they were doing something because the record label told them to do that, I felt like they were genuinely doing that and saying that because that was who they were.

Emma:And did that empower you as a young girl that wanted to get in to music? That you were like “i could be like that”

Tali:
Yeah!

Emma:Like were there ever any male artists that made you feel “oh yeah I wanna do that too!”

Tali:
Oh yeah! No, there were. That was not so much as a child. As a little girl you definitely look to female artists, don’t you? But there were obviously guys who were making music, like, (laughs) like I definitely loved a lot of new jack swing, and I loved a lot of hip hop again, but then I got in to a lot of rock music.

Emma:Right!

Tali:
Yeah like I loved Red Hot Chilli Peppers, I loved Tool, I loved all that music.. I know! Um, Offspring, Beastie Boys – which was a combination of hip hop and rock..

Emma:But isn’t it interesting that all the rock bands you’re mentioning are all male rock bands, too?

Tali:Yeah! So there was only… probably no female rock bands.. oh maybe! I liked L7, and I liked Elastica. Garbage I kind of got in to, No Doubt sort of a little but. But those for me, I was already on my path of getting in to electronic music at that stage. But those male bands I’m talking about – the reason why I loved them so much was the emotion I was connecting with. So when I was young I was connecting with women I could see myself being like, and then when I got in to rock music it was more music I felt emotionally stirred by. And it was at that time in my life where I was 14/15 so you know.. emotiooonnss.. (laughs) you know 16/17. And then I started to get in to hip hop again. So like Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, and this time it was about artists who had a platform and were using that platform to say something of value to society. So this was when I was at university and I started thinking about ‘what is my role in this world, especially as a woman? How can I use my platform to say something?’ I mean, I didn’t have a platform at that stage, but it was definitely on my mind. And then when I eventually got in to drum and bass, there were literally no females. I mean, maybe there were two DJs; Chemistry and Storm. And one female MC, but I wasn’t in to her, I didn’t like her style. So I was looking at 40 year old black men from London and thinking I needed to sound like that.

Emma:That’s really interesting to me because obviously a lot of my experiences and my blog talks about women in rock at the moment. But that’s why I wanted to talk to you because I also know drum and bass and the electronica scene is heavily swayed towards men as well.

Tali:Yeah, totally!

Emma:So, did you feel alone?

Tali:
Oh, god yeah! Oh my gosh, absolutely. I mean on one hand it was really nice because I was very coddled, in a sense. When I signed to Full Cycle, the boys who signed me, there were 5 of them on the label, and they were very protective of me. They would definitely protect me and give me a lot of advice but all of this perspective was coming from a male perspective. You know like, nobody ever gave me advice on how I should deal with male fans who speak to me inappropriately, or how I should deal with a male promoter who calls me a diva just cuz I ask for a dressing room with a mirror. It’s like, we’d just come off tour, we were on a tour bus, there was me and 2 backing singers who were females, we had a dressing room with no mirror in it, and we were expected to put on clothes and do make up. You know, it’s like, there is a standard. That to me is a standard, asking for a mirror is asking for a certain standard. It’s not ‘go and use the public toilets’ – no I don’t want to use the public toilets cuz the audience is arriving!

Emma:It’s also the ignorance to there weren’t many women artists around, so they just think women artist need what men artists need. Or like ‘all artist just need the same thing’

Tali:
Yeah! ‘oh well we’re all equal here!’ and I’m like ‘umm I’m pretty sure the guys would want a mirror in their room too-‘

Emma:If they were putting on lipstick!

Tali:
Yeah! It’s like, I don’t even have a compact, I don’t think I even had a mobile phone at that point, I think my phone had broken before I even went on tour. Anyway – it’s things like that where I definitely felt that I needed someone to guide me. And I didn’t have that guidance. And so therefore there were moments where I possibly made mistakes or said inappropriate things, but I very very quickly learned ‘oh okay I shouldn’t have said that’ or ‘I shouldn’t have done that’ and I took that and I rolled with it. And now that’s why I’m so passionate about trying to bring young women through in electronic music and taking them under my wing and giving them guidance. And why I love good for a girl, because, we don’t have these conversations. We don’t talk about these things. And unless we do, and young women have places where they can go and read this stuff and be like ‘oh okay..’

Emma:‘other women have this stuff..’

Tali:
Yeah! Yeah. If they don’t have that, then they will make those mistakes, and I want to be able to prevent people from.. I mean it’s good to make mistakes! But, at the same time, it would’ve been nice if someone had said to me, ‘hey, maybe tell him to fuck off that’s not appropriate’ you know, ‘it’s okay!’

Emma:And do you have any kind of key moments in your career where you went ‘okay.. that’s fucked.’ Like… something where you’re just like ‘are you fucking kidding me?’ you know, to do with being a woman..

Tali:
Yeah! Well, to do with being a woman and not to do with being a woman. I mean, sometimes it was because I was alone, like, because I didn’t have somebody there or security or anything so people felt like they could approach me and speak to me. But I’ve also seen them approach men and speak to men like that as well. So it’s like, there’s definitely been situations that come down to the fact of being an MC and people come up to you and are like ‘gimme the mic man, gimme the mic. I wanna MC, gimme the mic’ and you’re just like ‘I don’t walk in to your job and ask to fricken start… serving people?’ I mean like go away! Definitely moments where as a woman I was like like ‘wow..’ I like, really did not expect that I mean… how long have we got?

Emma:(laughs) as long as you want!

Tali:(laughs) well I remember there was this one promoter, in Liverpool, and I’d already had a bit of a shit night because this one guy had come up to me and he’d asked me if he could have the mic. and I said ‘no… you can’t have the mic’ and then he was more aggressive like [british accent] ‘yah gimme the mic man yeah, I’m gan spit some rhymes and ting’ and I was like ‘no! fuck off, I’m doing a job!’ so he threw a bottle of water at me, and I think it hit me in the stomach or the chest, like a full bottle of water – plastic bottle – but still fucking hurt. And i looked around and there was just all dudes and people didn’t know what to do. Nobody approached him, whether they didn’t want to start something, but nobody stepped in and was like ‘that’s not cool.’ So I was like, okay, what am I going to to do? So I just ripped the shit out of him on the mic. I proceeded to MC and cuss him, freestyle, and everyone just started laughing at him. And he got really angry and at that point the security guard had come through, and I said this guy threw a bottle of water at me la la la anyway, later on that night the promoter was like ‘oh I’m really sorry about what happened’ and I was like ‘oh that’s okay!’ and he was like ‘I’ll walk you back to the hotel’ and I was like ‘yeah cool.’ We were getting on really well, having this great conversation. And he was like ‘I’ll walk you to the hotel, you don’t mind do you? That’s alright isn’t it?’ And I was like ‘yeah that’s fine that’s totally cool’ and he’s like ‘I’ll take you up to your room, you don’t mind do you?’ and I was like ‘no no, no that’s cool, you can walk me up to my room!’ So he takes me up to my room and then he’s like ‘can I come in for a minute? Is that alright, do you mind?’ and I was like ‘no! you can come in for a minute, I’m going to make a cup of tea would you like a cup of tea?’ and he’s like ‘I’d love a cup of tea’ so we sit there and we’re talking and I’m like ‘I’m gunna go to bed now’ and he’s like ‘I’m just gunna lie down here, you don’t mind do you?’ (pause) yeeaaaah. it’s time for you to go now. You know?! He just got to that point like..

Emma:Oh, he was sooo subtle about it.

Tali:But I mean it’s kind of funny like I have had numerous times where there’s been a knock on my door at 4 in the morning and I’ll look through my peephole and there’ll be a certain DJ or 2.. who I cannot name.. who’s been like (whispers) ‘Tali. Are you awake?’ and I’m like ‘Not appropriate! It’s 4am!’ you know? All calling my room ‘yo man do you need some company?’ I’m like ‘nah bro I’m good.’ I want to be taken as a professional!

Emma:Exactly, are they doing that to the other guys you’re on tour with?

Tali:
I wanna be seen as a professional, treat me as a professional. You might be attracted to me – call me when we’re off tour, and we’ll talk about it!

Emma:Right now we’re working

Tali:
Not while we’re on tour and we’re working. Cuz it’s definitely not hap – you think I got this far and now I’m going to jeopardise it? And the amount of people who have said to me ‘she got where she is from sleeping with people’ or ‘she must have slept with the entire label to get there!’ and I’m like ‘Yes!! Because I have a magic vagina! My vagina is so magic that I just go wooooo’ and everyone goes ‘give her a record deal!’

Emma:(laughs)

Tali:
What is the logic in this!? If you look at the back story, you’ll see that the back story is quite exciting. And the reason that I got here is quite exciting

Emma:Oh no that’s doesn’t matter.

Tali:Hell no, cuz I just woooooooo

Emma:It’s actually just how pretty you are and whether you put out, basically

Tali:
I’ve had entire threads and forums dedicated to the way I looked. And things like ‘yeah I’d do her with a paper bag over her head’ and ‘she sounds like a cat being dragged through a lawnmower backwards’ and you know I don’t really mind if people don’t think I’m a good MC or they’re not into my music because it’s all subjective you know? It’s completely up to personal taste. But when people start talking about me like I’m an object and what they want to do to me? Like I cried absolute tears when I read those forums because I was new in my career and I was reading this shit and thinking ‘is this…?” and as a … what’s the word, where you go against that? I would be determined to dress as boyish as I could. So I would wear tracksuits, cap, big ponytail, big earrings and that and I would get on stage and have such a fierce attitude because it was like I wanted to push away the idea of seeing me as an object. I tried to make myself more male I guess. And sound more male. And because the only role models I had were males – you know everyone was like ‘you’re such a little tomboy’ and I’m like ‘underneath – I wanna wear a sparkly skirt!’

Emma:(laughs)

Tali:And a boob tube! And I can’t – because I don’t wanna be seen as an object. but as I got older, and I earned my stripes, as we say, this little soldier earned her stripes, it became apparent that and also Roni Size who signed me to his label and he was like ‘babe what you need to understand about these people who are writing these forums; they’ve got one hand on their dick and one hand on the computer. And usually they wanna do you, or be you.’ and that’s what it comes down to. They’re jealous because they can’t have you, and you’re in a position that they don’t think you should be in. Especially because you’re some white little female from New Zealand, how dare you? You know?

Emma:Yep!

Tali:
So, there was that, and he was like ‘stop reading the comments because that will drive you crazy’ and then secondly as I got older and matured more and became more comfortable in myself and my sexuality, I was like ‘you know what? If i wanna dress like this and you wanna see me as a sexual object, that’s your problem. It’s not my problem.’

Emma:Because the important thing is you feel good!

Tali:
I wanna feel good! And you know, I am a sexual person. And I love being a female. And I don’t dress for me, I dress for other women essentially!

Emma:That’s a huge thing men don’t understand! Even when it comes to make up. “Oh she’s wearing way too much make up. I like girls that don’t wear make up.”

Tali:
I don’t care what you like, I didn’t put this make on for you! (laughs)

Emma:Yeah or okay dude don’t wear make up then, you don’t have to, if you don’t like make up just don’t wear it … but I do…

Tali:
It’s my choice! (laughs) But yeah I definitely feel like there’s this fine line as well because society kind of tells us that in order to be attractive, and to be successful that we have to act a certain way and be provocative in a certain way. And I think there’s nothing wrong in being sexy and being provocative as long as that’s truly who you are. And you’re doing it for the right reasons. You’re doing it because it does make you feel empowered, not because you feel like you should be doing it. And this is why we should have things like Good for a Girl and people like you and I who speak out about this and let young women know that it’s okay. And there’s other ways to be empowered.

Emma:And don’t let it get you down, and trust treat it like … well most people are fucking idiots. Don’t let it get to you, because .. you’ve fuckin’ got your eye on the prize and focus on that.

Tali:
Yep and I hate the way as well the minute that other women started to MC, and there were other female vocalists it suddenly became like this competition? ‘oh what do you think of Jenna G do you think she’s a good singer? Oh what do you think of–’ I think they’re all fuckin awesome! ‘Oh yeah but don’t you care that she played this festival and you didn’t?’ No! Stop trying to create this competition between us. I’m not a jealous person and I’m not a competitive person. I am me, I do me. You know, what really gets my goat especially is line ups. Festival line ups. And it’s really important we talk about this too. Because – you know this too – I’ve had instances where we cannot be put on a line up because there’s already a female on the line up!

Emma:Yep.

Tali:
And especially for me, as an MC, I’m like ‘I’m sorry? I don’t see any other female MC’s around here. I’m like the only one and yet I can’t be on this line up because there’s another female who’s a DJ and plays house music?!’ You know? I’m a Drum n Bass MC! It’s completely different.

Emma:Yep!

Tali:
You’ve got 5 white dudes, who all MC over Drum n Bass and who all pretty much sound the same. (whispers) Where is the logic in this? It just gets me so wound up! Because like.. ‘oh well we’re just booking the artists that are successful. We’re just booking the artists that make money. We’re booking the artists, the headliners that are touring at the moment.’ Bullshit! Do your research! There are other artists out there who are female, who are touring, who are making money, who if you gave them the opportunity, people usually go; ‘OH MY GOD A GIRL MC!! YEAHH!” and all the chicks push their way to the front and all the guys are like ‘wow this is amazing all these women!’ and the promoters are like ‘this is great, it’s heaving it’s going off, we’ve got females and guys’ – I put them there, Mofo! I did that! (laughs)

Emma:Yeah, cuz you’re never gunna have people come away from a festival like ‘you know what? It was cool aye but there was just too many girls there.’

Tali:Yeah.

Emma:Like that’s never gunna happen. I don’t know why promotors or festival organisers worry about there – whether they actually consciously worried about that or whether it’s just when they’re confronted by it and they’re like ‘ooohhh i have to make up an excuse’ that’s kinda what I like about Going Global showcases because when you breakdown the 12 artists, 6 of them have women in them so it’s 50/50.

Tali:
Yes! Definitely!

Emma:There needs to be… some major festival somewhere just quietly, not announce it, just for their next festival book 50% of their acts with women in them. Not say anything about it, just do it.

Tali:Yeah!

Emma:And then let the media take it once the festival line up is announced, and it the people notice then that’s cool, and then if it’s a major festival that does it all the smaller ones will follow on..it’s the power of influence as well is really important.

ECCA VANDAL IS ONE OF MY FAVOURITE ARTISTS RIGHT NOW

Infact, she played five, FIVE, showcases at BIGSOUND this year, and I – along with my partner in crime – attended ALL OF THEM. Her live show is so energetic and addictive, we needed to see it more than once..twice…thrice…everyone we bumped in to at the festival was forced to attend at least one show, too. And it was a quick conversion from a forced attendee to a full-blown fan.

Ecca Vandal is definitely a force to be reckoned with and I have no doubt in my mind she is going to be huge. On top of that; she is fucking lovely. Such a sweetheart, so when I text her on the morning of our interview with the time and location, she replied ‘Emma!! I cannot wait to meet you – see you soon!” followed by a whole bunch of emojis which is the language of my people. I knew we were going to get along well.

During her live set, it’s really hard to pull your eyes away from her performance. She’s got the moves, the attitude, the fearless aggressiveness, and the voice. But pull your eyes away you should, because her band are NEK LEVEL. Made up of crazy talented dudes; Kidnot, Dan Maio and Stacey Gray, ECCA VANDAL the band undoubtedly form up the rest of the pieces of the puzzle that make up a truly great artist and are solo artists in their own right, all adding exponential value to the overall musical picture. Absolutely killer.

An experienced and gifted producer in her own right, Ecca Vandal also works closely with band member Kidnot who is an incredible songwriter and producer to collaboratively form these industrial/punk/hip hop tracks that have (seemingly) quickly developed in to some of the most unique, headstrong, confident and grounded-in-what-they-truly-believe-in music that I’ve (and all the other raving music lovers and critics) have heard in a very long time.

A beacon for self-expression, Ecca Vandal is hugely inspiring to me to push my own boundaries, explore new sounds, be confident in who I am, and experiment with fashion (she has probably the most enviable personal style ever, I really needed to make that clear 2 u).

I could go on about Ecca forever, but our chat is much more informative of who she is, what she’s about, and what’s coming next for her!

WATCH MY INTERVIEW WITH ECCA VANDAL HERE:

ECCA VANDAL LINKS

GOOD FOR A GIRL: ECCA VANDAL (INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT)

Emma:
I came to Bigsound a couple years ago and saw you wandering around alot. But I don’t think you were playing shows were you? You were just hanging out?

Ecca Vandal:Yeah I was just hanging out.

Emma:I kept being like “who is that girl? She looks so fucking awesome I want her to be my friend.”

Ecca Vandal:(laughs) that’s hilarious

Emma:So the first thing I want to talk about is what your influences in music growing up were – your role models and inspiration. What got you in to it from a young age, or a teenager.

Ecca Vandal:What got me in to music was probably my family. My family is pretty much all musically talented. They sort of all sing, and play an instrument and music was always in the home. So that was sort of where it started – I started singing as well. I guess it was a thing that was in my blood. I only kinda started taking it seriously at the time of Grade 10. Like mid teenager. So I had a great music teacher who was like “you should consider doing it seriously” you know? “You enjoy it!” So i had a great teacher to say keep doing it – so I listened to him.

Emma:Yep. So do you have brothers and sisters?

Ecca Vandal:
Yeah I’ve got two sisters!

Emma:Two sisters – so what do they do with music?

Ecca Vandal:
They were both great singers. And they’re both a bit older than me so I always would watch them sing and go to all their gigs and stuff. Just admired them like “I want to do that one day!”

Emma:And did they play rock music? Or what did they do?

Ecca Vandal:No! They did more like Jazz and Musical Theatre…

Emma:Wow cool

Ecca Vandal:
And you know, pop music. So this is definitely not stylistically the same, but they were definitely performers.

Emma:Yeah! Your style is really unique, I would kind of call it punk but industrial punk but there’s quite a lot of electronic theatrics in there. Did you have any musical influences in your teen years that were from those genres that made you wanna go that way? Or did you create that yourself?

Ecca Vandal:
Well I find in each genre I have strong influences and bands that I love. In to the punk world I’m a massive Bad Brains fan, Fugazi fan, Minor Threat. You know, that kind of, the original. Living Colour, fishbone. Like the original kind of punk pioneers. I was really influenced by that. And then I love electronic music, I love hip hop. I love beats. I love jazz. So I kinda thought, I love all of them equally!

Emma:How can I combine them?

Ecca Vandal:
Yeah – I’m influenced by all of them. And when I started writing I found myself going in these directions. And I went “Oh no but I’m going that way! No now I’m going that way!” And I thought hang on, this is all working ok. There were parallels between a few of them, I found. And I thought, let’s just do a combination of it all and it felt right to me!

Emma:And it sounds fucking awesome.

Ecca Vandal:
Thank you!

Emma:So do you think growing up, or even just now, are you conscious of having women artists to look up to or sideways to? Like was having other girls doing music a big deal for you? Cuz I know for me I only really started thinking about women in music when I decided to start talking about my own experiences. And then it was like.. I don’t think I ever really had women influences and role models to look up to growing up. Do you think you did?

Ecca Vandal:
That’s a good question because I’ve only looked at it in hindsight now as well. Like now that I’m in music, now that we’re in the industry. You know, all that kind of stuff. I actually never thought about it but I guess some of the artists that I actually love, I love female artists. The strong female artists that I love, I love Bjork, I love M.I.A, I love some of the amazing jazz vocalists from the 50s and 60s like Ella [Fitzgerald] and Sarah Vaughan and stuff – they were all tough as fuck back in the day. So I love those guys. But in terms of this kind of genre, there weren’t that many. And it’s really interesting because I haven’t found many that I can look up to or aspire to be like. I listen to a lot of male artists. It’s interesting when people go ‘you remind me of M.I.A!’ or you know. Santigold or something like that, which is awesome because I think they’re great, but actually I’m more influenced by male artists.

Emma:Yeah – and do you think that comes from your aesthetic as well? I think with women people tend to go ‘you kinda look like this other women artist so therefore you sound like her’ – like there’s this musician back in New Zealand called Julia Deans and she was in this band that was very big in the late 90s/early 00s called Fur Patrol, and I read an interview with her a few weeks ago, and she talked about it a bit saying “when we a started out the media were like oh yeah Julia Deans she’s like Courtney Love” and Julia’s like “I don’t sound anything like Courtney Love. Just because I’m a girl playing a guitar… if I had a dick that comparison wouldn’t happen. I’d be my own artist” you know? Do you think that you get a bit of that? It’s guided by that as opposed to what the music sounds like? As you say, your music is influenced by male artists..

Ecca Vandal:
Absolutely. 100% right. And, you know, because of the colour of my skin and because I’m female people go, okay who are the other brown chicks who might have some balls… you all sound like that! And I’m like well I respect – I look up to M.I.A, I look up to Santigold I respect them for their artistry. But at the same time I don’t think my music sounds like theirs. So um, I actually give props to anyone who comes up with their own affiliations with my music. Cuz it feels like people actually like to copy what other people say. You know? People don’t think for themselves and go ‘actually, what does this remind me of?’ if they want to identify with it some way.

Emma:Yeah or they don’t sit down and actually think about it before writing about it.

Ecca Vandal:
Yeah! There’s a lot of copy and paste out there, journos! And it’s cool, I think they’re great artists and I respect them all but I think there are some other things you can draw from it. Last night I actually had someone come up to me and say I reminded them of H.R. from Bad Brains and that’s and amazing…

Emma:That’s a conscious recognition.

Ecca Vandal:
Yeah! That’s the ultimate compliment to me. Because I admire him as a performer, but also because it also just broke the molds and the pattern of people saying “this is what you sound like and this is what you are”

Emma:It’s refreshing

Ecca Vandal:It is refreshing

Emma:When someone gets the nail on the head, ay?

Ecca Vandal:Absolutely!

Emma:So just more specifically more about your actual experiences being a woman, you touched on a bit about being a brown girl as well

Ecca Vandal:
Yeah

Emma:Have you had any sort of outrageous experiences where you’re just like “dude, seriously, what the fuck?” – things like maybe they have respected your authority with your art or your technical understanding or.. or any sort of “out there” sexism. Have you had any rough experiences with that or have you found you’ve been quite accepted?

Ecca Vandal:
I feel like I’ve had both worlds in the extreme. I’ve had a lot of support and I’ve had a lot of guys come around an support and acknowledge and say ‘we really dig what you do’ – even other females as well! But on the other side, yes there has been sexism, there’s been you know – if I chose to wear a short skirt one day you see the shift. And you see like.. you know all that sort stuff. And people think it’s okay to cross those boundaries because you decided to dress a certain way or something. That’s not on. And there’s been many times that I’ve had to deal with that. And unfortunately at the time, there wasn’t a lot of talk about that sort of stuff. So it was hard to talk to other people about it.

Emma:And assert it and be like – this not cool.

Ecca Vandal:
Yeah – or even to just have dialogue like we’re having right now about it. But since then I think this discussion is coming out and it’s okay to talk about it and say ‘you know what? that kind thing’s not okay.’

Emma:Yeah and just talking about it in a casual manner like this, because people haven’t just heard the conversations you know – a lot of women or men will post aggressive rants about it online or whatever, it just creates that divide where it’s alienating to people to be confronted by just the realities of it. So I think just casually talking about it like this it’s like.. “well yeah, this shit is happening”

Ecca Vandal:
This shit is real

Emma:“just so you know – it’s happening!” and just changing the casual mind set about it so they’re like “yeah… that is kinda shit.”

Ecca Vandal:Yeah! Because also often you get, people kinda second guess like. If you tell them about a situation that was un-kosher, they’re like “hang on – what did you do to incite that? What did you do?” it kinda shifts the blame. It’s just this blame game. And those sort of situations make you not wanna talk about it. Cuz it gets assumed you’re involved and it’s like no this is real stuff it’s happening daily. And we’re talking about it now, you know, it’s a cool. The more we can talk about it the more we can just put a stop to it at the time.

Emma:And those questions you get like “well what did you do to get that attitude towards you”. It’s kinda like “ugh I can’t even be bothered engaging with you about it” but it’s damaging because it will subconsciously make you go “maybe I did do something to bring that on..”

Ecca Vandal:
Yeah, totally!

Emma:And that’s dangerous because we shouldn’t be thinking that stuff. But it’s hard to stand up and go “no. it wasn’t me.” but that’s the culture – and that’s why this conversation is important.

Ecca Vandal:It’s so true. It’s good that we’re talking about it!!

Emma:So what’s next for you?! With your career – release plans?

Ecca Vandal:
Yes! I’m writing new music which I’m loving. I’m loving being in that creative zone at the moment. I just got back from overseas..

Emma:Saw that!

Ecca Vandal:
Yeah I just sorta soaked up the inspiration from New York, LA, like a sponge. I feel like I’ve coming back with a bit more inspiration and drive to keep writing as much as I can!

Emma:Looking forward to hearing more music!

Ecca Vandal:Thank you! Yeah, so hopefully more music out soon by the end of the year. And just get playing again.

ANNA LAVERTY IS A PRODUCER, MIXER, ENGINEER, & WRITER

After discovering women producers (I know.. sounds ridiculous) via a video shared with me about Sylvia Massey – I was suddenly very excited and aware to find more.

The universe heard my call and responded just a few short weeks later by the ways of a Going Global panel announcement that Australian producer, Anna Laverty, was going to be spreading her wisdom at the conference.

Bonus: my manager was also speaking at Going Global and so introduced us, which was great because it meant I could avoid over-excitedly nerding my way over to her and having her say no to an interview. i.e. Tom buys me cool points. Yas.

So Anna has an awesome story. Which you’ll hear in much more detail in our interview below; but basically, she hit up London after graduating engineer school (tech term) and was taken under wing by some kick ARSE producers over there, and just bossed the shit out it now she’s a full-fledged producer in her own right back home in the land-of-down-under, working with some incredible up & coming and established talent and basically is just about 100 times more awesome than the rest of us.

Check out some of the artists she’s worked with below;

She also recently produced a GFAG fav of mine, Courtney Barnett, as part of a Grateful Dead covers album that The National put together to raise money for HIV/AIDS research.

Anna also runs a fantastic twitter called Audio Women which shares info and achievements about and regarding women working in the audio engineering industry – which is great. She hopes to inspire more young girls to explore a career in audio! YUS.

WATCH MY CHAT WITH ANNA LAVERTY – PRODUCER HERE:

ANNA LAVERTY LINKS

GOOD FOR A GIRL: ANNA LAVERTY (INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT)

Emma:[talking about my Sylvia Massey blog post] … I wrote this blog about her because I realised that I’ve never ever worked with a woman in a recording setting or even a live sound setting.

Anna Laverty:Oh, you haven’t? There’s a couple of live sound girls around, but not in the studio, yeah.

Emma:So when I found out you were going to be at Going Global this year, I was like “hang on a second… a woman producer! Now I get to ask them questioooons!” So, when [my producer] Tom was like “do you want to interview Anna?” I was like “yesssss.”

Anna Laverty:
Yeah!

Emma:So, I’m really interested in just how you got in to recording growing up. Growing up; whether you had any influences that got you in there or whether you just found yourself there?

Anna Laverty:
Yeah, no, I didn’t find myself there! I always wanted to be a sound engineer. I can’t explain it. I didn’t know any sound engineers, my parents aren’t in the business, like I don’t have any of that stuff. Whenever I saw on telly, someone being interviewed in the studio or working in the studio, it just, I just felt like that was my calling. And so when I was about 15 I started going to the open days at the performing arts uni where I lived in WA. And he was like “too young, too young” – and then when I got to year 12 I applied and got in – there was only 10 people that got it so it was pretty amazing. On my first day somebody told me I only got in because I was the “token girl.”

Anna Laverty:
Yeah so that really pissed me off. And it really pissed me off because I had basically done work experience and gone and worked for free every school holidays for 3 years to get in to this course, and I feel like I really got in off my merit. And to have someone to say that is like… really??Emma:“Actually it’s because you have a vagina.”

Anna Laverty:
Yeah. So whatever. So I did that course then I moved to London and got work experience in a studio and was just doing that for a while. Well, after 2 weeks they offered me an assistant engineer job and I started working with a bunch of really cool producers and haven’t really stopped! But now obviously I have been climbing this little invisible ladder over the years and now I’m a producer in my own right!

Emma:So when you started being a studio assistant and an assistant engineer, were you working around many other women at all?

Anna Laverty:
No, there is none. The only other female producer/engineer that I’ve come across was at the same time that I was assisting Paul Epworth and Ben Hillier in London, Catherine Marks, who’s a girl from Melbourne but who lived in London was assisting Flood. And our 2 studios were like sister studios, so we would occasionally see each other. It was very weird because we were both from Australia and we were both working London. We were like the same person! It was like Shelbyville like in The Simpsons. It was pretty cool.

Emma:That’s really cool! And did you find that when you worked – like obviously it’s majority men – did you come up against any sort just.. bullshit?

Anna Laverty:
A little bit. Yeah. I mean I’ve come up against a little bit of bullshit but not as much as you would think, actually! I think its because it’s music, it’s the arts. People that work in music and the arts generally aren’t dickheads. Um, so that’s pretty cool. I have had a couple of instances – and it was when I was a bit younger too – a couple of instances of people saying really inappropriate things. And not like sexual things but things that were, just… it’s that whole saying like “you only got in to this because you’re the girl,” you know that stuff. And it’s like “you have no idea how hard I worked for this!” So you know… whatever.

Emma:(laughs)

Anna Laverty:
But both times that that happened to me, I was just like “yeah whatever, dude.” And it actually doesn’t really bother me that much because I just know that it’s not true. But it’s pretty inappropriate. So the two times that that happened, I didn’t do anything about it, but other men that were there! Like in one example I was an assistant engineer and some guy told me I should be making everybody dinner in the studio instead of being in the studio. And he was serious. It wasn’t like a joke.

Emma:(laughs)

Anna Laverty:
And I was like “okay! cool!” and then all the other guys that were there – I didn’t know this – but went and told the studio owner. And he told that producer – who was a big time producer – he was doing a huge, huge record – told him that if he ever said anything like that to me again he wouldn’t be welcome back at the studio. And I just thought that was so cool. I was like the junior assistant engineer, and for him to just be like “that is unacceptable” – I just thought that was really cool.

Emma:There’s some angel men out there.

Anna Laverty:
Yeah! Yeah for sure. and obviously all my mentors have been men, so yeah.

Emma:Can you actually cook? That’s the real question.

Anna Laverty:
I can cook, yeah!

Emma:I feel like if it was me I would’ve been like “challenge accepted.” And then I just would’ve made the worst fucking meal they’ve ever had in their lives and they would never ask me again.

Anna Laverty:
Yeah, no… it’s just yeah the funny thing was at the time in that studio we did all make dinner for each other. That was a big part of the culture because we would be there all day. So everyday it would be someones job to go and make the dinner, you know? And I was like “I don’t wanna go make the dinner now, it’s making me all self-conscious!” (laughs) Yeah.

Emma:Do you find that you have more women artists approaching you at all?

Anna Laverty:
Yeah, I think I do now, actually! I work with a lot of young women. And then also more experienced women who are like “oh my god it’s so amazing!” I actually did a Christmas song with Tina Arena one year..

Emma:Get out of town! (laughs)

Anna Laverty:
(laughs) Yeah and she was like “this is the first time I’ve ever worked with a female engineer.” And she’s been doing it since she was seven! and I just couldn’t believe that.

Emma:But that’s what blew my mind about finding out about Sylvia Massey. I was like “oh yeah okay what records has she worked– TOOL?!” I didn’t even know that, I was just like holy shit.

Anna Laverty:
Yeah and she like, ran that studio out in Weed (LA) for like a loooong time. Like she was a big deal.

Emma:Crazy eh. And I’ve never seen another woman – I mean my career is still really young, I’ve just recorded an album and an EP and a couple of singles – but I’ve never seen another woman in that environment while I’m there and I’d just kind of accepted it’s a dudefest. It didn’t even cross my mind. That I could purposefully seek out women producers and engineers and bring them in. Even if say, I wanted to work with my current producer, but how about we get women in engineers or like.. you know? I’m kind of seeing you coming in to my sphere of influence and then the Sylvia Massey thing and going and doing some research about more women that work in that industry and I’m like okay for my next record I do want women involved.

Anna Laverty:
Yeah, I mean I love to do things like this [speaking at Going Global] because I love the fact there might be a young girl in the audience that might be like “well I wanted to do production but I didn’t because I felt like I couldn’t! But hey, maybe I can!” I think that’s pretty cool. I like the role modelling stuff.